News headlines in 2020, page 32

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 17 (IPS) - Last year, we paid tribute to the 20th Anniversary of the 1999 Declaration of the Program of Action on a Culture of Peace. Today, we need to ask ourselves if we had genuinely carried out our moral responsibilities to transition from a culture of hatred and violence to a culture of tolerance and peace.

ROME, Sep 17 (IPS) - Concern about food loss and waste has become an increasingly important focus of attention when discussing ways to eliminate hunger which, according to the latest FAO report, already exceeds 690 million people.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Sep 17 (IPS) - The negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic is likely to be felt long after the COVID-19 health risk is resolved, a high-level meeting under the auspices of the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA), heard.

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 17 (IPS) - Key focuses of the upcoming 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) High Level Week will be the accessibility of vaccines and a renewed plea for a global ceasefire. "I will make a strong appeal to the international community to mobilise all efforts for the global ceasefire to become a reality by the end of the year," U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said on Wednesday. 

WASHINGTON, Sep 17 (IPS) - Just as COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted some communities more than others, globally, the virus has had an oversized negative impact on migrant workers.

BANGKOK, Thailand, Sep 16 (IPS) - The United Nations has tasked the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Population and Public Health (CIHR-IPPH) to lead the research roadmap to identify priorities that will support an equitable global socio-economic recovery from COVID-19 within the broader framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As the world grapples with the impacts of COVID-19, identifying the research agenda and partnering with academic institutions and think tanks have become more essential than ever before.

DUBLIN, Sep 16 (IPS) - Exclusive to IPS

The impacts of crises are never gender-neutral and COVID-19 is no exception. The pandemic has resulted in increased rates of violence against women and has exacerbated challenges in accessing justice. Women are losing their livelihoods faster than men.

NEW YORK, Sep 16 (IPS) - This September, New Yorkers will be a lot less annoyed. They've been spared the annual disruptions from road closures, sirens and movement of security forces accompanying world leaders who attend the UN General Assembly. By largely moving online due to COVID-19, the world's most significant gathering will be missing some of its excitement even as the UN celebrates an important 75th anniversary in 2020.

WASHINGTON, Sep 16 (IPS) - Later this month, government officials and climate stakeholders will once again converge on New York City (this time virtually) for Climate Week and the United Nations meetings.  And while there will be much discussion about the important role that actors such as private businesses, civil society and cities will need to play in the climate change effort, there will once again be relatively little discussion about one key cohort: government-owned companies. 

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 16 (IPS) - Children in Syria are facing the brutal brunt of the ongoing civil war in the country, now rendered further paralysed owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and United States sanctions.

At the Sept. 15 launch of the report investigating human rights violations in Syria by the Commission of Inquiry on Syria, experts warned that in addition to the already ongoing conflict, "newer forms of violence" was on the rise.